Across the Eastern Caribbean, water insecurity is becoming an increasingly urgent challenge as climate change brings more frequent droughts, degraded watersheds and unpredictable rainfall. These pressures are placing growing strain on water systems and the communities that rely on them. However, the impacts are not experienced equally. When water systems fail, women and girls often carry a disproportionate share of the burden, particularly because they are commonly responsible for household water management, family health and food production. This makes water insecurity not only an environmental issue, but also a matter of gender equality and social justice.
The Canada-funded Strengthening Resilient Water Resource Management, known as the “Water for Resilience” project, was created to address this intersection between climate resilience and gender inclusion. More than an infrastructure initiative, the project is designed to ensure that resilience is built through equitable and inclusive systems. Canada’s support reflects a broader commitment to gender equality and inclusive development, helping the project integrate gender-sensitive approaches so that the benefits of improved water resilience are shared more fairly across communities.
Implemented by UNDP in Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the project tackles water insecurity in vulnerable communities while intentionally advancing women’s inclusion in water governance and decision-making. It is based on the understanding that water security and gender equality are deeply connected. Rather than treating water management solely as a technical challenge, the initiative recognises that social structures often determine who has influence, who benefits from water systems and who suffers most when those systems break down.
Historically, women have played central roles in managing water at the household and community level, yet they have often been excluded from formal water governance, technical planning and leadership spaces. The project challenges this pattern by embedding gender equality into its design, implementation and governance. It shifts the narrative away from viewing women as passive beneficiaries and instead positions them as leaders, decision-makers and knowledge holders whose participation can improve outcomes for entire communities.
The project supports countries in building climate-resilient, community-driven water systems while also addressing the structural barriers that limit women’s participation. Its gender-responsive model focuses on improving access, influence and capacity across all levels of water management. At both national and local levels, it strengthens institutional ability to manage water resources in ways that incorporate gender equality, environmental rights and sustainability. This includes improving technical skills, enhancing access to water and climate data, and digitising historical hydrometeorological records to support better planning and adaptation.
Importantly, these technical improvements are paired with deliberate efforts to ensure women are included in training programmes, learning exchanges and decision-making processes. This helps ensure that new systems and technologies do not unintentionally reinforce long-standing gender inequalities. By linking technical innovation with social inclusion, the project aims to build water systems that are both more effective and more equitable.
The initiative also frames women’s leadership as a critical climate solution. Eastern Caribbean countries, as Small Island Developing States, are especially vulnerable to droughts, floods and environmental degradation, making resilience essential for long-term development. The project argues that resilience strategies that ignore gender inequality are inherently weaker. By mainstreaming gender considerations into climate-resilient water governance, it promotes adaptation approaches that are more community-driven, environmentally sustainable and responsive to local realities.
Evidence cited by the project shows that when women participate meaningfully in water governance, services tend to become more inclusive, better maintained and more responsive to household and community needs. Supporting women’s leadership in a sector that has traditionally been male-dominated also helps normalise gender equality within institutions and planning systems. In this way, the project is not only improving water access and resilience, but also contributing to deeper social transformation.
Overall, the “Water for Resilience” project is presented as a model for how the Eastern Caribbean can respond to climate change while advancing gender equality and social equity. It demonstrates that resilience cannot be built through infrastructure alone, but requires inclusive systems that value women’s knowledge, rights and leadership. By linking water security with gender equality, climate action and community empowerment, the initiative supports both Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation and Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality.
As climate pressures continue to intensify across the region, the project sends a clear message that gender-blind solutions are no longer sufficient. Water systems that fail to address inequality risk failing the very communities they are meant to protect. The Eastern Caribbean’s experience through this project shows that when women are fully included in water resource management, resilience becomes stronger, fairer and more sustainable for everyone.
